Absentee ballots confirm Hanlon win for Spafford town board

Defeats Kathy Bragg-Adams by four votes

SYRACUSE  Democrat Lou Hanlon was confirmed the winner of a seat on the Spafford Town Board on Thursday, Nov. 17, defeating fellow Democrat Kathy Bragg-Adams by four votes.

The result was announced after the town’s absentee ballots were unsealed and hand-counted at the Onondaga County Board of Elections.

Of the 14 returned absentee ballots, Hanlon received seven votes and Bragg-Adams received six votes, meaning Hanlon won the election by four votes.

On election night, Hanlon led Bragg-Adams in the vote count 261 to 258.

Both candidates were present during the ballot counting.

Hanlon previously said he knew the vote count would be tight. "It was a hard-fought campaign," he said.

Bragg-Adams said after the votes were tallied, "Lou and I shook hands and immediately began discussing the fracking issue, and what the next couple of years will be like in Spafford."

Hanlon will be sworn in to the board in January along with current councilman Jeff Ireland, who handily won reelection to the board on election night.

Chris Fesko, who was elected to a two-year term as town councilor on Nov. 8, officially took her seat on the board on Nov. 10. Fesko defeated Republican Joyce Larrison in a special election to fill the unexpired term of her late husband, Rick Fesko, who died tragically in May.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at editor@skaneatelespress.com.